'Dragon Ball Z' Fandom Gathers To Celebrate Saiyan Day

Dragon Ball fans know how to take over the Internet for a celebration, and they are gathering today for a big event. After all, March 18 marks an important fan-holiday in the fandom, and it has to do with all things Saiyan.

So, if you would like to pay homage to Vegeta, then there's little doubt the prince would enjoy the special treatment today.

Over on social media, fans are hitting up each other to celebrate Saiyan Day. The holiday takes place on March 18 every year, and its origins are all thanks to an interesting language tick in Japan.

March 18 is the heralded date as it can be written numerically at 3/18. When this is spoke aloud, it is pronounced like 'San Ichi Ya' but can be shortened even further in Japan.

"By depicting 318 and By Shortning [sic] "San Ichi Ya" as "Sa - 3, I - 1 and Ya - 8" ; its pronunciation sounds like "Saiyan," a fan known as GogetaXV explained for newcomers.

Sites like Reddit and Twitter have been flooded with fan-art to celebrate the big day, so heroes like Goku are coming out in force. While the Dragon Ball franchise acting sparingly with its Saiyans once upon a time, the alien race has only grown in the last few years. Not only did Goku's children and Vegeta's clan expand the race, but Dragon Ball Super added to the Saiyans in a major way. After all, the show confirmed Universe 6 existed as a twin to Universe 7 and had its own Saiyan home planet. The introduction of characters like Cabba, Caulifla, and Kale are just the tip of the multiverse. So, it seems there's never been a better time to celebrate Saiyan Day than now.

So, have you paid homage to your favorite Saiyan today? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 11:00 p.m. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on FunimationNOW and Crunchyroll. The manga has chapters that can currently be read for free thanks to Viz Media.